Charles Miller Croswell

Charles Miller Croswell lived an ordinary life for the time and period in which a simple infection could mean death. He lost his mother and little sister to fever when he was 7 years old. A few months later, his father accidentally drowned in the Hudson River. At this time, Charles began to make his home with his mother’s brother, Daniel Hicks and family. When Charles was 12 years old, the extended family moved to Michigan. They traveled on the Erie Canal, crossed Lake Erie and traveled by wagon from Toledo. Daniel Hicks was a carpenter. When Charles was 16 and an apprentice to his uncle, they built what we know now as the “Historic Croswell House”.

There was another apprentice carpenter who helped build the House. His name was Thomas Cooley and they became friends. While carpentering, they decided to study the law. It seems they weren’t very busy when they first opened their law offices. With time on their hands and a lack of paying customers, they decided to build their own furniture for their office. The bookcase containing their law books is believed to be built by them along with the graceful Regent’s Table we see in the House.

In 1852, Charles married Lucy Eddy. They had 5 children, but not all survived childhood. His second marriage to Elizabeth Musgrave was in 1880 after Lucy’s tragic death in 1868.